CHAPTER X - SILAS MARNER

Summary

The ‘Mill on the Floss,’ which appeared in 1860, fully established George Eliot's popularity with the public. In the same year she published anonymously, in Blackwood's Magazine, a short story called the ‘Lifted Veil.’ This tale is curious as differing considerably from her general style, having a certain mystical turn, which perhaps recommended it more especially to the admiration of Bulwer Lytton; but, indeed, it attracted general attention. In the meanwhile, the relations between author and publisher became more and more friendly; the latter's critical acumen and sound judgment being highly esteemed by George Eliot. “He judged well of writing,” she remarked, “because he had learned to judge well of men and things, not merely through quickness of observation and insight, but with the illumination of a heart in the right place.”

This was the most productive period of George Eliot's life. In three successive years she published ‘Adam Bede,’ ‘The Mill on the Floss,’ and ‘Silas Marner,’ the last story appearing in 1861. When the amount of thought, observation, and wisdom concentrated in these novels is taken into consideration, it must be admitted that her mental energy was truly astonishing. But it was the accumulated experience of her whole past, the first abundant math borne by the springtide of life which was garnered up in these three remarkable works.